23:19 After this Abraham buried his wife Sarah in the cave in the field of Machpelah next to Mamre (that is, Hebron) in the land of Canaan.
49:29 Then he instructed them, 11 “I am about to go 12 to my people. Bury me with my fathers in the cave in the field of Ephron the Hittite.
6:3 Even if a man fathers a hundred children and lives many years –
even if he lives a long, long time, 13 but cannot enjoy his prosperity –
even if he were to live forever 14 –
I would say, “A stillborn child 15 is better off than he is!” 16
8:1 The Lord says, “When that time comes, 17 the bones of the kings of Judah and its leaders, the bones of the priests and prophets and of all the other people who lived in Jerusalem will be dug up from their graves. 8:2 They will be spread out and exposed to the sun, the moon and the stars. 18 These are things they 19 adored and served, things to which they paid allegiance, 20 from which they sought guidance, and worshiped. The bones of these people 21 will never be regathered and reburied. They will be like manure used to fertilize the ground. 22
1 tn Heb “a resident alien and a settler.”
2 tn Heb “give,” which is used here as an idiom for “sell” (see v. 9). The idiom reflects the polite bartering that was done in the culture at the time.
3 tn Or “possession.”
4 tn Following the imperative, the cohortative with the prefixed conjunction expresses purpose.
5 tn Heb “bury my dead out of my sight.” The last phrase “out of my sight” has not been included in the translation for stylistic reasons.
6 tn Heb “old and full.”
7 tn Heb “And he was gathered to his people.” In the ancient Israelite view he joined his deceased ancestors in Sheol, the land of the dead.
8 sn The cave of Machpelah was the place Abraham had purchased as a burial place for his wife Sarah (Gen 23:17-18).
9 tn Heb “and Isaac expired and died and he was gathered to his people.” In the ancient Israelite view he joined his deceased ancestors in Sheol, the land of the dead.
10 tn Heb “old and full of years.”
11 tn The Hebrew text adds “and he said to them,” which is not included in the translation because it is redundant in English.
12 tn Heb “I am about to be gathered” The participle is used here to describe what is imminent.
13 tn Heb “the days of his years are many.”
14 tn Heb “he has no burial.” The phrase וְגַם־קְבוּרָה לֹא־הָיְתָה (vÿgam-qÿvurah lo’-haytah, “he even has no burial”) is traditionally treated as part of a description of the man’s sorry final state, that is, he is deprived of even a proper burial (KJV, NEB, RSV, NRSV, ASV, NASB, NIV, NJPS, MLB, Moffatt). However, the preceding parallel lines suggest that this a hyperbolic protasis: “If he were to live one hundred years…even if he were never buried [i.e., were to live forever]….” A similar idea occurs elsewhere (e.g., Pss 49:9; 89:48). See D. R. Glenn, “Ecclesiastes,” BKCOT, 990.
15 tn The noun נֶפֶל (nefel) denotes “miscarriage” and by metonymy of effect, “stillborn child” (e.g., Ps 58:9; Job 3:16; Eccl 6:3); cf. HALOT 711. The noun is related to the verb נָפַל (nafal, “to fall,” but occasionally “to be born”; see Isa 26:18); cf. HALOT 710 s.v. נפל 5.
16 sn The point of 6:3-6 is that the futility of unenjoyed wealth is worse than the tragedy of being stillborn.
17 tn Heb “At that time.”
18 tc MT, 4QJera and LXX read “the sun and the moon and all the host of heaven,” but 4QJerc reads “the sun and all the stars.”
19 tn Heb “the sun, moon, and host of heaven which they…”
20 tn Heb “followed after.” See the translator’s note at 2:5 for the idiom.
21 tn Heb “they will not” but the referent is far enough removed that it might be ambiguous.
22 tn Heb “like dung/manure on the surface of the ground.”